The Director General of the Saudi Cooperative Insurance Company, Mossa Al-Rabeean, was recently cited by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, stating that he expects a tremendous boom in the local insurance market in the near future. The director added, that upon Saudi Arabia’s joining of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the local insurance market will be exposed to free competition by foreign insurance companies.

Al-Rabeean said that the interior affairs ministry is currently evaluating proposals to impose compulsary health and car insurance in Saudi Arabia. In the case that these proposals are accepted, additional insurance imposals, such as work injury insurance, may follow in the future. This measure is projected to stimulate the local insurance sector, which lost 3.6 percent of its value in 1999.

A recent market study showed that the local insurance sector in Saudi Arabia employed 2,758 people in 1999 compared to 2,315 in 1998. These figures imply a 19.1 percent growth. The Saudization ratio in the local insurance market grew from 21.6 percent to 26 percent during the same period. –(Albawaba-MEBG)